Defense call 'Kat' a liar, details her sex life: Suggests she was dominant one in relationship, not Mazzaglia

Tuesday

Jun 10, 2014 at 3:15 AMJun 10, 2014 at 10:55 PM

During her third day of cross-examination Monday, public defender Joachim Barth depicted Kathryn “Kat” McDonough as a liar and bisexual dominatrix who encouraged Seth Mazzaglia's sexual tendencies by leaving him lewd notes.

By Kimberley Haaskhaas@fosters.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of sex and/or violence that some readers may find offensive.

DOVER — During her third day of cross-examination Monday, public defender Joachim Barth depicted Kathryn “Kat” McDonough as a liar and bisexual dominatrix who encouraged Seth Mazzaglia's sexual tendencies by leaving him lewd notes.

Barth wasted no time and began the day by asking McDonough about her testimony to the grand jury that indicted Mazzaglia, 31, of Dover, on charges of first- and second-degree murder for his participation in the Oct. 9, 2012 killing of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, a transfer student at the University of New Hampshire who was studying marine biology at the time of her death.

Barth said McDonough was asked if, at any point in time, she took on the dominant sexual role in the relationship she had with Mazzaglia, which started when she was only a senior in high school.

Barth said McDonough's answer was “no.” He then started to produce pages of Facebook exchanges between McDonough and Mazzaglia from when they first became sexually involved in November of 2011.

Upon seeing the messages she and Mazzaglia sent each other as “Skar” and “Dark Heart,” roles the couple took on, McDonough admitted that she left scratch and bite marks on Mazzaglia.

She also admitted to tying Mazzaglia up in a three-point position where his arms were tied together.

Despite those admissions, McDonough repeatedly said she did not consider these sexual acts as dominating her new boyfriend, who was 28 and complained that people at his theater rehearsals noticed an X on his back after one of their initial sexual encounters.

“I just don't see that as domination,” McDonough said. “To me, domination is such a different thing in that lifestyle. That is just rough sex.”

Barth said that when McDonough visited his office just a few days after Mazzaglia was arrested for his involvement in Marriott's death, she said she had a long-standing interest in bondage, domination and sadomasochism.

McDonough replied, “I always had a fascination of being a damsel in distress. I used Google and I learned about BDSM.”

McDonough claimed she didn't actively participate in the type of BDSM she described as having with Mazzaglia last week, which included 'slave' and 'master' roles, until she was already living with him at his Sawyer Mill studio apartment.

Barth went on to ask McDonough about notes she wrote out in her computer files and on sticky notes she left for Mazzaglia. These notes described sexual fantasies McDonough had, some of which involved situations that included being blindfolded and anal sex. The messages were eerily similar to the first portion of a lengthy text message Mazzaglia sent to McDonough Aug. 25, 2012, describing her punishment for taking a job as councilor at a theater camp.

McDonough testified last week that she was immediately punished when she got home from that camp in an encounter which involved hitting, the twisting of skin and smacking.

“'I want to be tied up, blindfolded and kneel down before you.....' those are your words,” Barth said. “That text message literally mirrored fantasies you wrote out for him.”

McDonough said she doubted that she left Mazzaglia a sticky note describing what was in the text message he sent to her before receiving it.

“I have never claimed that that text message was based on my fantasies,” McDonough said.

Later, Barth grilled McDonough about the advertisements she put out on the Internet looking for a woman to have sex with Mazzaglia while she was away at the camp for two weeks. He asked McDonough if she was trying to control who would stay with Mazzaglia while she was gone.

“Isn't it true that as you wrote this ad for camp, you took control of who he might be with during that time?” Barth asked, following up by noting that if Mazzaglia wanted to have sex while McDonough was away, he could have gone to a bar.

“He said it was too hard,” McDonough replied. “I brought up a bar or a college where he would find someone who was interested.”

Despite McDonough's insistence that she was searching the Internet for a woman at Mazzaglia's requests, Barth said McDonough was the one looking for a woman to bring into the relationship.

“Weren't you virtually addicted to the notion of bringing in another woman for you?” Barth asked.

McDonough explained said she was the person in the couple with profiles on websites like fetlife.com because Mazzaglia told her she would be able to get more people to be part of the relationship as a young woman.

Barth introduced text messages McDonough sent to Andrea Fowler of Winter Park, Fla., just days before Marriott died.

Fowler had disclosed an interest in BDSM.

McDonough wrote to Fowler, “We've even messed with blood/knife play. Of which (Seth) has plenty of experience in it and I've found it psychotically fun.”

Fowler wrote back, “I'm looking at electricity stuff.”

McDonough wrote back, “Yea, I've seen those! Looks fun! I'm more of a middle age rough fan. I like chains, whips, leather, rope and knives.”

During the last hour of testimony, Barth hammered McDonough for the lies she told to witness Roberta Gerkin of Rochester and the police when investigators were trying to figure out what happened to Marriott. He said McDonough was already planning to blame a fraternity at UNH for Marriott's death before she even spoke to Mazzaglia about coming up with an alibi. Marriott had told McDonough that as a commuting student, she had a long walk from class to the school's parking lots where she had to leave her car.

“It is easy for you to take different parts of reality and weave them into your lie because you are good at lying, aren't you?” Barth asked.

The day ended with a line of questioning about McDonough reading the police affidavit for her arrest.

“The affidavit of your arrest included the summary of events on the 9th,” Barth said, adding that it included allegations Marriott was involved in consensual sex.

“You had certainly not come out with a claim that Seth Mazzaglia strangled Lizzi Marriott,” Bart said.

“I was just getting arrested. I didn't really know what to do. I didn't have a lawyer,” McDonough said, claiming she wasn't really sure what was happening.

The trial is scheduled to resume today at 9 a.m. It would have been Marriott's 21st birthday, according to her father, Robert Marriott.

For a complete version of this story, visit www.fosters.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.